Today i did some sparring at kungfuAnd we have those headgear with the face fully exposed so sifu said we weren't allowed to hit ppl in the faceIt felt kinda bad cos i kept finding opportunities to hit the face but kept remembering i wasn't allowed

I use thisfor sparring with foam swords, don't know how it would handle just kick/punch sparring though. If you look you can find headgear that has clear plastic protection over the face, haven't used it myself though so can't say either way. You could also ask your instructor and get his views on it if you hope to use it in class. Hope that helps in some small way at least.

The very first headpiece I purchased for TKD wsa exactly the same has Joshuamonjin's helm, it had a thick plastic face mask, and open from the top, so there was no protection at the top of the head. Straps where in the back, and mines was white colored. For white belts who wanted to spar it was mandatory to have a face mask, it was for insurance reasons.

For Olympic sparring I didn't like using it because a face mask was not mandatory in tournaments and there were no punches a loud to the face. ButI must admit that face mask has prevented me at least on 4 occasions from getting a broken nose. As the months went on and finally years there was no need for it. But when I started focusing on self defense with my brother, once again we went back to the face mask helm. Its a great way to add a bit more realism to your training. Some schools use motorcycle helmets as face masks. I guess this depends how hard you want to hit. You should be creative with your training and try all sorts of training tools to enhance your workouts.

11 years later since I bought it, I now use my face mask helm to practice the straight blast from jeet kune do.

I think the face cage type headgear ought to be mandatory for beginners who want to spar. When i was growing up, nobody made headgear like that. The best we had was that foam-dipped garbage from Macho or Century. We wore the equipment for full contact jiyu kumite, and other times wore no gear at all for controlled contact (which of course, no one ever exercised)and everyone sparred, regardless of experience. At any rate, I recall there were more broken noses and bloody mouths when we did wear foam gear than without. That stuff never offered any protction to the vulnerable parts of your body in the event that your opponent breache dyour defenses; it just added an incumberance to your natural weapons. Seemed like a cheap way to appease any insurance clauses. The illusion of safety. I suffered a couple broken noses in those days. I wish we coulda had that Hisataka/Supersafe gear back then. My kumite/distance0timing would probably be at a much higher level now.